One Month and Counting!

Kabir is 6 weeks old! We can't believe so much time has passed! 

I have been horrible at updating the blog but I promise to make up with plenty of pictures and video today! 

Kabir is a lovely, happy, wonderful little baby! Most of the time he eats well, and sleeps soundly. Every once in a while he thinks that 2 am - 8 am is play time, but I think mommy and daddy have convinced him otherwise! 

He's started to recognize voices and faces and turns to you when you talk. He smiles at mommy and daddy, especially when he's doing something naughty like not napping, or when he poops! He loves being read to, swinging in his swing, playing in his bouncer or just laying around. Bath time is another favorite! Kabir has definitely discovered the joys playing in the water :) 

Kabir loves to move his hands and legs, so of course he fights being swaddled. Unfortunately, when you put him to sleep without being swaddled his hands attack him and wake him up :( poor little Kabir!

We also gotten big enough to be mostly cloth diapered! So far, we like them and I can't complain about the laundry because Jay does it :) But I fold all the prefolds, and stuff the pocket diapers we have. Kabir seems to like them so all in all it's a win! Plus the prints are just so cute on his little bum! 

We've started taking Kabir out on mini-outings and he seems to do well. He loves walks in his baby carrier, and does pretty good in his stroller too. The first time I took him out by myself, I started getting ready 2 hours before we left! But now that I have done it once, I try and do it everyday- it helps with the cabin fever. 

Now that Kubs is bigger and awake more, you are all welcome to visit! Just let us know what works for you as most evenings and weekends will work for us. We'd love to see you and Kabir can't wait to meet you! 

Also, we've set a date for Kabir's baptism: July 21, 2013 at the 11:15 a.m. mass at St. Rose of Lima Church in Gaithersburg, MD. Invitations will follow and so will an email with more information. 

And now pictures, lots of pictures and a video of our little man turning! 

Our little Thinker

Angelic sleeper

Bright eyes

Blissfully sleeping

Party in my bouncer!

Look mom! No Swaddle

There's a monkey in my bed...

Staring contest

1 Month! 

Maxin' and Relaxin'

Just playing with my ball 

Waking up is hard 

and we're turning! 

I hope you enjoyed it all!! We'll keep posting pictures and videos as we can. 

hugs and kisses, 

Jay, Sandra and Kabir! 

Playing Catch Up

 Kabir has been home for almost two weeks!! We've gotten into something of a schedule and so now I'm playing a bit of catch up....

In the months between our last post and when Kabir arrived here's what you missed: 

• Friends and Family Baby Shower: Grace and my Mom hosted my first lovely baby shower! The Divita and Lawson Ladies helped prepare the festivities which included games (like tasting baby food), ducky punch, and a beautiful cake decorated by Nicky! Thomas Divita made us a beautiful drawing for ourgn guests to si that included landmarks from India, our college, the church where we were married, and our apartment building! It was such a special present!! If you'd like to contact him for some personal amazing artwork, here is his information:  thomas.divita@hotmail.com and his prices are 8.5x11: $50; 10x14: $75; and 11x17: $95. Some pictures are below, and I'll post more pictures to my Facebook. I had such a wonderful time!

Guest Eating

Nicky's Beautiful (and delicious!) Cake

Thomas's Picture

More guests eating

More Guests

• NIST Baby Shower: Jay's office hosted a baby shower for us too!! Many of his coworkers came out to celebrate with us and we guessed who baby would most act and look like- Work Grandma Monica saved the results to see who guessed right! Once again, we received lovely gifts of clothes and baby goods to start Kabir off right, including hist first NIST sweater! And we were showered with so much love, attention and support! 

• Thanksgiving: My whole family came out to celebrate Thanksgiving together which we haven't done since I was a Freshman in college! It was a fun time albeit ridiculously busy! We cooked Thanksgiving dinner, went Black Friday shopping (late), hosted a baby shower, and ended the trip with a nice family dinner out. 

• Mom's Baby Shower: Mom invited my cousins and family from her side over to celebrate some more! It was great to see my Perima and most of my cousins and their kids. I received an Indian blessing from my mom, Perima, and girl cousins. Kabir is one lucky guy because he received more wonderful things!! Then it was families chatting and eating. There was a onesie fatality thanks to an uncooperative iron, but I think our monkey onesie will survive! And like old times, the younger cousins some how found ourselves at the kid table :) 

• City of Gaithersburg Baby Shower: My office hosted a wonderful shower at our local watering hole in the beginning of December. It was Dr. Seuss themed: "One fish, two fish, red fish, new fish!" So many of my coworkers came to shower me with so much attention. It was lots of fun and I was surrounded by so many wonderful people! We played baby shower bingo, there was a diaper cake, and each present included a book to build baby's library! I definitely work with the some of the kindest, sweetest and most thoughtful people! I don't have any pictures of this wonderful event because I was scatter brained! But I'll see if anyone else does :) 

The Invitation

• Educational Enrichment Committee Baby Shower: At work, we have an Educational Enrichment Committee that I recently began to work with. Instead of our usual December meeting they surprised me with a wonderful breakfast baby shower- complete with a balloon sculpture of a baby on a swing! They all shared stories of what they did as parents, and also gave lovely gifts. I can't wait to share some of their ideas with Kabir as he grows! 

Swinging Balloon Baby

• Odds and ends: Welcoming a baby means plenty of other things need to get updated and so we made our list and are making our way through. It's funny how such a little person makes you start getting things done. It also means BIG belly! I waddle, and enjoy every moment of it! Jay likes to play with Kubs already- he makes sounds and feels for the kicks and jabs, or shines flashlights and plays tag. Kubs is a mover and kicker! He loves to roll around and kick and jab all day long- we'll see how well I fare when trying to dress him! 

We are so thankful for all the love and support everyone has shown throughout our pregnancy!! Kabir has a lot of wonderful people he'll have to meet! You always know that you are someone special and someone loved, but to see everyone who you love come together to celebrate this new bundle of joy because they already love him is overwhelming, in a good way!! We've received so much love and support from everyone around us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

Baby Kabir has arrvied!

So, I see that our iPad sent out the email I meant to send last Wed. today! We had limited internet service at the hospital and the email was pending until today. 

My water broke the Tuesday night, and after 12 hours of no real progress the doctor realized that I had a foremembrane that was delaying things, and he put me on pictocin. At 3:20 p.m. we were ready to go, and after an hour and a half of on and off pushing Baby Kabir arrived! 

Jeremy, our nurse Sada and the doctor were the only ones in the room once the show was getting real. Our nurse was the most amazing person! She was so present and guided me through everything. At one point, dad snuck by and heard me say "Oh sweet Jesus!" which made my mom and mother-in-law try and sneak in, but all was well! Kabir was born shortly after the mother sneak!

Baby Kabir was born  Wed., January 9, 2013 at 4:59 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and was 19.76 inches long. 

It's been almost a week and baby and I are doing wonderfully! Kubs is on a 3-4 hour sleep cycle (such a blessing!) and Jay is home for 3 weeks. The time is flying by and we can see changes in Kubs everyday!

Thank you for all the calls and the emails! We are working on getting back to everyone.  And everyone who has offered to help, don't you worry! We will definitely call on you :) 

And as promised I've attached some more pictures :)  And feel free to share this email with anyone I may have forgotten!

Hugs and Kisses, 

Jay, Sandra and Baby Kubs

At the hospital, soon after being born

On our way home

Boppy Time

Family Picture

With Amama

With Grandpa Joe

Smiling!

Almost Ready for His Closeup

Now that we found out we'll be bringing home a little baby boy- we were ready to start preparing for Kubs. 

We've registered. You think this is easy stuff but there are books written about all the do's and don'ts of registering. Figuring out where to begin was a little overwhelming! Lucky for me, Jay was up to the task of sorting through Consumer Reports and starting a list. He even bought me a book to help! And after one intense baby weekend- we were registered. 

If you're interested you can find us at Target, Amazon, and Great Beginnings (http://www.greatbeginningsonline.com/) all under Jeremy Lawson and/or Sandra Lawson. 

(I know it's cheating since I haven't actually changed my name yet, BUT I did have a date with the Social Security Office to get that sorted out when Sandy got in the way!)

We didn't register for a lot of clothes and toys, mostly because those are things people love to choose on their own and I'm sure if you pick out a toy or clothing we'll both OooOOo and AaaaAaaa and Kubs will surely enjoy them! 

Registry weekend also included cribs. My mom and dad went shopping with us. We picked out a lovely crib set (it's this ash brown color) and a glider. The crib set was a gift from my parents and we are so thankful to have them near by for support and advice! Of course, baby furniture takes 10-14 weeks to ship... so we've got some time!

You'd think after registries and cribs you'd be done, right? Nope! The only car Jay and I own is a sporty 2-door Scion- wonderful for those sunny days but not so much fun with a car seat in the back. So, last Friday we bought a new car, fully equipped with 4 doors- make way for Kubs's new ride: 

Our new 2013 Subaru Impreza

We have a month of busy times ahead of us- baby showers, holiday giving at work, family visits, more baby showers and of course the holidays!! So we'll try and keep the updates coming, but feel free to email or call if the updates become too few and far between. 

Last, but not least, Kubs must know that his mom will be bombarding him with all kinds of pictures when he's born because he's a stubborn one when it comes to sonagrams! The good news is that we have a healthy growing baby- whose new due date is Jan. 28, 2013. The 'eh' news is that he still isn't a ham. 

Here's the best picture we got at our last ultrasound, which is a little hard to make out. Maureen was the one who cleared this picture for me. Kubs's face is head on. His nose is toward the bottom middle if that helps and his hands are folded under his chin: 

Kubs: 27 weeks and 4 days

Keep the emails, calls, and prayers coming! Saturday officially makes the start of our third (and last trimester!!). Pretty soon, we'll be bringing Kubs home and we just cannot wait! 

Don't Paint the Walls... Keep all Receipts!

So this is the moment you all have been waiting for... but I won't get to it just yet! We have to let the suspense build a little! 

We've received some more lovely and thoughtful presents showcased below: 

Lovely first book from Emily, and Baby's first Robe and Towel from  mom and dad

Little Mono (monkey) and sleeping outfit from Julie

Thank you for all the kind words and support! Every time I open my email or get a comment on Facebook it makes me smile! and Baby kicks too! 

Now onto the meat and potatoes. Before I continue- make your guesses! Boy or girl??

We were originally supposed to find out last Friday, but our doctor was on call and was busy delivering babies (imagine the nerve!) so we waited until Tuesday. 

Our doctor was running a good hour late, and we were on pins and needles. The doctor made us promise that we wouldn't paint the walls and that we'd keep all receipts just in case. 

Of course, once it all started we were all systems go! Baby played a little hard to get and moved all over but we were able to measure most everything. And even though we didn't get any good pictures to share, or get to see baby's face we are happy to announce: 

that we will be bringing home a lovely baby boy in January! 

We have another ultrasound scheduled for Halloween so hopefully our little boy will be less shy by then. We've picked out a name. Our little bundle of joy will be Kabir Isaac Lawson. Kabir from a well known Indian poet whose name means "great one" and Isaac which means "he who laughs." So our little man will be "the great laughing one" and as my boss put it "laughing poetically!" 

We'll start working on our registries and get that information out soon, with more pictures of us, even though we know everyone just wants to see our baby bump! Our friends and family baby shower will be Sunday, Nov. 4th in Rockville, MD. We'll be sending evites and invites soon too! Both of our offices will be throwing showers too! 

Our California family is always near and dear and while we won't be able to make it to California before baby arrives, we hope to visit after baby is born. You are welcome to join in festivities either by mailing cards or gifts, we can video chat or talk on the phone, or you can come out to visit us. Most importantly you can keep doing what you have been doing: sending us plenty of love, support and prayers! 

Hugs and kisses and lots of well wishes! 

Baptism Class

So we've decided to have Baby Lawson baptized. I suppose we had decided that long before Baby Lawson was even an idea, but I have gone back and forth about baptism. 

I think a lot of it has to do with beliefs that are taught that I don't personally think align with what it means to be Catholic. As an adult, I've learned to temper everything that I am told to do/believe with what my conscience tells me is right. But how do I do that with a child while not appearing to always have some exception to the rule?

Our parish has every couple go through baptism class for their first child. So we decided this would be the beginning of our discernment process. Class was held on two Sundays for 5 hours total.

Going to this class didn't start on the best foot. We were sent an information packet about Baptism, including the guidelines for picking Godparents. Oh did every one hear my piece about Godparents!! First, you can't have two Godparents of the same gender. Period. What if I didn't have a man or woman in my life that had the faith and character traits I wanted as a role model for a child? Nope, if it's two people of the same gender, no can do! I completely understand that one Godparent has to be a confirmed Catholic. No qualms there. But why does the other Godparent have to be a baptized Christian? That completely eliminates any one in our family who isn't baptized or who isn't Christian, regardless of if the person is a faith filled person who would guide a child morally. And what guarantee is it that someone who is baptized is a good person?

Ok, I could go on but enough ranting. There were good parts to all of this. At one point in the class we were asked "What do you seek of the Church?" I answered that I was looking for "unconditional love, acceptance, and support through our child's discerning faith journey which begins with baptism." I thought I had done really well! And then Jay answered and made it so clear to me that we were making the right decision. He said "you want to make your child always feel supported and through baptism we are able to give our child the broadest and deepest family."

The broadest and deepest family. This is a family that transcends pure genetic ties. One that has a spiritual connection beyond the Church walls. One filled with love and joy over the blessing and growth of a new little one. A family that will show our child how loved s/he is, how accepted s/he is, and that s/he is beautiful just because s/he exists. And through this broad, deep family, our child will be surrounded with so much goodness. S/he will be able to discern for his/herself and stand up for what s/he believes in. We don't have to worry, because we are surrounded by an amazing family that our child is already blessed to be a part of. 

The knitting group at our Church, sealed this idea for me. They came by and had knitted each couple a lovely blanket pictured below. They did this not to pass judgement, but so that each child would be wrapped in the warm blessings of their prayers. Our blanket is beautiful and pictured below with our stuffed monkey Phillipe. 

Thank you for being a part of our lovely, broadest and deepest family! We can't wait to share more with you!!

Also, I know you are all dying to find out if we're having a boy or a girl and what his/her name will be. I know we are!! Our appointment where we find out the sex of the baby is Friday, Sept. 28. BUT Jay and I will be having reveal cupcakes at work on Monday, Oct. 1. Soooo there won't be a blog post until Oct. 1 in the evening. And if you are dying to know and can't wait, text or email me and we'd be happy to share!! 

When You're Pregnant... Life Pours!

Being pregnant has some perks- pregnant parking, yummy delicious food, all the extra attention, looking forward to a lovely little baby and so much more. 

But it has it's crap-tastic moments too! Here's a few of both from the last couple o' weeks:

• I got bronchitis! In the summer, while preggo, in the middle of an important work week, while Jay was traveling. So that translated to no days off, sounding like a XXX phone operator who may have smoked too long in her life and then like a prepubescent boy, having to run out for most things and do most of the errands, and terribly missing Jay! I was lucky that mom, dad, Tony and Andrew were there to help and listen to me being the biggest baby on earth and making all the silly things I wanted to eat!

• Following getting better, I caught a lovely summer cold. Looks like there will be plenty of Kleenex and prepubescent voice in my future :) 

• At 20 weeks (halfway there!!) I look like I'm pregnant now! I went from being chubby to actually having a baby belly (skipped the baby bump of course) There's a picture below- feast your eyes on my belly! 

• Because I've started to look pregnant, my pants don't fit and well leggings aren't an everyday option. So, I thought I'd be smart and buy maternity full panel jeans because I'd get the longest use from them- obviously! What I failed to realize is that my tummy is not big enough to hold up the full panel jeans, so for now I walk around pulling up my jeans. It's quite the rocking look :) 

• We've had 2 doctors' appointment around when the bronchitis was first diagnosed and one today. Our first doctor was a little "I'm the best doctor" and the visit was pretty normal. Our second visit, which included the power going out, was much more entertaining. Our doctor regaled us with server, WiFi and sunshine stories.  We didn't get an ultrasound either time, but we did hear baby's heart again. I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing that wonderful sound! My belly is measuring perfectly.  At 155 beats per minute Baby's heart is healthy and mommy is healthy too! 

• Drum roll please :::da da da da dum::: we'll be finding out if we have a Baby Boy or a Baby Girl on Sept. 28, 2012 at 2:25 p.m. EST. So cast your votes now, and wait until you're told if you're an aunt or an uncle ;) 

• To that end, we have baby names picked out! But those will be our secret until we find out if Baby is a girl or boy. But trust us, you'll love either name! 

• Pregnant belly means that Baby is getting bigger and stronger. I just started feeling little baby kick! Baby seems to like kicking the most at night time, which makes all the sense in the world given that I'm Baby's mom. 

Other than those updates, we're just excitedly waiting to meeting Baby. We've made a few grown up decisions which has been fun. But for the most part I love telling people I'm pregnant and that our lovely little one will be here in the New Year! 

Until next time- hugs and kisses and super wishes from Jay + Sandra = 3!